


Epitaph

by fragilecapricornpanic



Series: PRE-WRITTEN, Pre-Canon Sibling Encounters [56]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canon Compliant, Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Pre-Canon, Suicidal Thoughts, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26331643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragilecapricornpanic/pseuds/fragilecapricornpanic
Summary: Dopily flitting his sights across the apartment, Klaus spotted a typewriter on her dining table. He stumbled over to the it, massively intrigued. Vanya had been the only one at the academy who’d had thorough typing lessons - dad said there wasn’t much point for the rest of them, you could quite easily just bludgeon someone to death with it. No special training required. “What’re you writing?” he slurred as he ran a curious finger across the keys. “Nothing interesting.” Vanya self-consciously stated. Klaus thought she looked apologetic, guilty even... but he knew she always looked that way, like she was sorry for existing.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: PRE-WRITTEN, Pre-Canon Sibling Encounters [56]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869709
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	Epitaph

**Author's Note:**

> Another Ben wants to see Vanya story, but this time from Klaus’ POV - and they’re slightly older and more fucked up.

A slap snapped Klaus out of his nightmare. Klaus blinked his aching eyes, trying to remember where the hell he was and _who_ just slapped him. He was grateful, but bewildered. “Oh.” Klaus breathed as he gazed to the direction of the slap and found an extremely irritated looking man. Besides the scowl, he was hot - Klaus had done well for himself, he felt. Klaus wondered how long he’d been whimpering in his sleep. He gathered it was time to leave... it would be nice to get breakfast one day. As Klaus pulled himself to sit on the edge of the bed, he groaned wearily as he remembered what today was. He dragged his shaky hands down his face. Having his dead brother watching him throw his life away every day made Klaus feel guilty enough, but Ben was always extra depressive on the anniversary of his death. He always had some request he begged for Klaus to fulfil. It was hard to say no. “Hurry up.” the man grunted impatiently. Klaus decided he was going to steal from him more than he usually would.

—

“Can I try guess what it is this year?” Klaus mused as he waited for the elevator to come to the floor the guy’s apartment was on. Ben rolled his eyes and shrugged, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Klaus wondered what would happen if Ben phased through the elevator doors before it arrived, would he float down to the bottom? Hover in place? “What would hap-“ the pinging of the elevator interrupted Klaus, causing him to completely forget his train of thought.

They shuffled in, and Klaus rubbed at his head as he tried to remember what the hell he’d been saying. “Right!” Klaus clicked his fingers “I’m guessing what you wanna do...” Ben was clearly brooding in silence this year, as he just raised an eyebrow at Klaus. “A movie?” Klaus wondered, though he wasn’t sure what movie that would be. Ben shook his head. “A... museum?” he pondered as he held onto the bar behind him. Ben shook his head again. This was like talking to a brick wall, Klaus thought. “What then?!” he snapped, not having the patience to guess - even though it was his idea.

“I want to-“ the doors slid open to let someone in from a lower floor. A businessman ambled in and gave Klaus an awkward smirk. Ben had to quickly budge out of the way before he walked straight through him. Klaus didn’t care if some random guy thought he was crazy, what difference did it make? “Continue.” Klaus instructed, holding a hand in Ben’s direction. His brother looked at the man uncomfortably, but continued anyway. “I want to see Vanya.” Ben admitted grumpily. Klaus cringed, slumping back against the wall. “Does it have to be Vanya?” he pleaded pathetically, feeling regretful before he’d even seen her. His sister always seemed so on edge around him, it made Klaus feel culpable. He’d fucked her over enough times to deserve that reaction.

The businessman hastily walked back in between the brothers, trying to get close to the door so he could scurry away as soon as they opened. Even if Klaus _was_ talking to himself, he wasn’t sure why people acted like he was going to add them to his apparent collection of severed heads. “Your eyes are so dreamy.” Klaus giggled, leaning closer to the man purely to make him squirm.

—

As they made their way towards Vanya’s apartment building, Ben grew more downcast every time Klaus missed his footing and stumbled into people. It was so hard for Klaus to keep his eyes open, he was on the verge of falling asleep standing up. There had to be some way to get Ben to change his mind, Klaus tried to convince himself. Maybe he could persuade him to do something else. As he glanced over to his brother, he saw his despondent deceased face. Klaus sighed to himself, feeling too guilt stricken to attempt to talk Ben out of his wish. He reached into his coat pocket and grabbed a couple pills from a baggy, he knew he’d goddamn need them for this interaction. Klaus saw Ben glaring at him from the corner of his eye. “It’s only two!” Klaus placated, shoving his hand out to Ben before sticking them in his mouth.

“You’re _already_ high as a kite.” Ben groaned, pulling his hood even further over his face. Ben didn’t understand, he wasn’t the one who had to actually suffer through this painfully awkward interaction. It was quite some time ago now, but Klaus still intensely fucking hated himself for the time he’d stolen Vanya’s violin in his sheer desperation to end his dope sickness. He could barely bring himself to face her on any given occasion, but _today_ of all days... it was giving Klaus whopping great butterflies in his stomach. He needed to numb them, cut their wings off... that was a very reasonable need to take more pills.

—

“ _Pleaaaase_.” Klaus whined through the door, banging his head against it in frustration. It felt ridiculous that he was begging to see his sister when he didn’t even want to in the first place. Klaus kept feeling an intense twang of guilt whenever he’d catch Ben’s doleful pouting. Christ, he was dreading this. “I promise I’m not gonna steal anything!” he drunkenly exclaimed, trying to convince himself as well as her. The door finally unlocked, and Vanya sheepishly met Klaus’ eye. “Sorry...” she mumbled as she opened the door fully to let him in “I was tidying something up.” Klaus tried not to scoff at how much that sounded like bullshit, he was one to talk. 

Dopily flitting his sights across the apartment, Klaus spotted a typewriter on her dining table. There was no paper in it... maybe she _had_ been tidying up. He stumbled over to the typewriter, massively intrigued. Vanya had been the only one at the academy who’d had thorough typing lessons - dad said there wasn’t much point for the rest of them, you could quite easily just bludgeon someone to death with it. No special training required. Klaus nearly dropped off, catching himself just before he began to slump down. 

“What’re you writing?” he slurred as he ran a curious finger across the keys. Turning to glance at Vanya, he saw Ben wistfully grinning as he watched her from where he was perched on the kitchen counter. Klaus bit the inside of his lip, another wave of guilt hitting him. It was taking all of his willpower not to pop another pill. Vanya bashfully looked down to her feet, fiddling with her oversized sleeve. “Nothing interesting.” she self-consciously stated. Klaus thought she looked apologetic, guilty even... but he knew she always looked that way, like she was sorry for existing. Klaus shrugged as response, uninterested in boring paperwork. He staggered over to his sisters couch and flopped onto it, lying down comfortably. Klaus wondered if he’d ever own his own couch. 

Vanya awkwardly shuffled to stand over her couch, Ben’s eyes followed her dotingly. She looked like she wanted to sink into the ground, Klaus thought. “Do you...” Vanya forced her vision up from her boots, briefly meeting Klaus’ eye before immediately looking back down “need something?” Klaus giggled lazily, finding her shyness quite endearing. It was perfectly fair for her to think he was here for money. “Just wanted to check up on you...” he sighed, dangling his arm off the edge of the couch and stroking her floor. It felt nice and smooth, Klaus was tempted to roll off the couch and lie on the wood. “...with today and everything.” he drawled, taking his sights off the appealing floor and glancing up to his sister. Vanya wrung her hands together gently, seeming quite jittery - and utterly melancholic. Klaus wasn’t sure if he was _actually_ looking at Vanya, his vision was so doubled.

Ben was a sore spot for them, Vanya refused to believe he was a ghost - she thought Klaus was partly cuckoo, partly lying. He couldn’t truly blame her. Being with her on the anniversary of his death was setting Klaus on edge, and he knew she felt the same way. There was an overwhelming, ghostly elephant in the room. Literally. He was sat right there. Klaus knew he’d be taking a bit of a risk if he took more pills just yet... it would be a dick move to force Ben to watch him overdose today of all days. The guilt may have gotten to him on a few anniversaries in the past, causing him to take a bit too much... not with the intention to _die_. Just to feel unimaginably numb. When he’d wake up and see Ben’s hurt, disappointed face - he’d always momentarily wish they’d never given him the damn Narcan. A _little_ more alcohol couldn’t be too dangerous, it barely even effected him these days. “Do you have any booze?” he mumbled up to his sister. It would settle her nerves too, two birds one stone.

—

“And what the hell is that epi...” Klaus glanced over to Ben, needing the help of his resident dork. “Epitaph.” Ben stated bluntly, still not fully taking his eyes from Vanya. Ben clearly wasn’t impressed with him, which just made Klaus feel even more ashamed. It wasn’t like he could just swap places with Ben. He probably would if he could. “Epiphat.” Klaus attempted to repeat, referring to Ben’s god awful statue they were discussing. “Like, what does that even mean?” he chortled, throwing a bemused hand up in the air. His gesturing sent whisky from the bottle in his hand flying across the room, but Klaus didn’t notice. _“May the darkness within you find peace in the light.”_ had always seemed so vague and bullshitty to Klaus. 

His sister took a sip from her own tumbler, and chuckled gently. “I guess dad meant the portal, the eldritch monsters were the darkness...” Vanya shrugged, sounding like she’d thought about this many times before. Klaus made a noise of understanding, putting his head to the side so he could face his sister. “You’re so smart.” he softly announced, causing Vanya to blush slightly and look down to the ground. “I don’t know about that.” she muttered, voice thick with self-loathing. Klaus groggily heaved himself into sitting upright so he could grant her his full attention. “No Van, you are.” he insisted earnestly. Vanya, Ben, and Five had always been the smartest. Klaus supposed that was why they had all been so close to one another. He painfully realised it must’ve been so hard for Vanya to lose the only two friends she had in the entire world. His heart broke a little bit. She deserved to know Ben was here for her...

“Look,” he winced preemptively, though he was out of it enough to not be terrified of her reaction “he’s here, I _promise_.” Klaus chewed on his lip as he glanced over to Ben, who had his eyes closed with despair. Vanya abruptly placed her tumbler down on the coffee table, forcefully enough that it would’ve made Klaus jump had he not been so utterly off his face. “I think you should go.” she asserted bluntly, sounding on the verge of tears. Klaus placed the bottle down and scrambled to lean over the couch nearer to her, wobbling and nearly face planting the inviting smooth floor. “I’m telling the truth he’s right there!” he groaned, frustratedly holding a hand towards his brother. Ben was shaking his head to himself, seeming profoundly disappointed in Klaus. “I’m doing this for you, you ungrateful little shit.” Klaus slurred as he chuckled in disbelief. Ben was always the one nagging about seeing Vanya!

“You need to leave.” Vanya demanded, though it seemed she could barely build the confidence to say it. Klaus groaned and shoved the heels of his palms into his tired eyes. “Fine.” he mumbled dejectedly, dragging himself up from the couch, almost toppling over. Vanya stood up too, making sure to keep her distance from Klaus - like she too thought he was going to add her to a collection of disembodied heads. His sister nervously edged towards the door and pulled it wide open for Klaus to get the hell out. “Sorry.” he muttered solemnly as he attempted to leave, but accidentally walked straight into the doorframe instead. “Sorry about that too.” Klaus bitterly wheezed as he actually left the apartment this time. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a few more pills. He was sure Ben would call this yet another _”rock bottom”_ anyway, why not make the most of it.

**Author's Note:**

> “Anniversary” another one shot in this series is a similar kinda vibe but Diego’s POV.


End file.
